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Nelson Perez

The ADL needs to dump Jonathan Greenblatt

Image post is free for use on a commercial platform in accordance with copyright law. Retrieved from The Forward on 1/22/2025
Jonathan Greenblatt Image by ADL

In the profession of countering terrorism, disinformation, conspiracy theories, political extremism, and, of course, antisemitism, no organization has contributed more resources to address these issues than the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Founded in 1913 to bring awareness to the increase of antisemitism in the United States, the ADL has been a beacon of integrity when it comes to helping marginalized communities combat discrimination and propaganda. As a matter of fact, a variety of organizations dedicated to studying conspiracy theories, like the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and Life After Hate and Parents For Peace, who are helping individuals deradicalize from extremist groups, have partnered up with the ADL to bring awareness to far-right extremism. For many academic researchers who study hateful ideologies and violent extremism, joining the ADL and its team of scholars is an immense accomplishment that some of us can only dream of, and yes, I am still dreaming.

Unfortunately, in the last couple of months, the current ADL CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, has pushed for policies that infringe on free speech, congratulated election denialists, and sanitized clear Nazi salutes as “awkward gestures” while labeling anyone who advocated for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war as antisemitic. Such actions have brought criticism to the ADL and have put its reputation in jeopardy, which is a tragedy because there are many counter-extremism researchers who are doing lifesaving work that push for policies that help non-governmental and governmental institutions reduce racially motivated attacks. However, as long as Jonathan Greenblatt stays in charge of the ADL, more people will realize that the Anti-Defamation League isn’t meant to combat disinformation and extremism anymore, but to preserve a Nationalist ideology at all costs.

The Antisemitism Awareness Act

Under Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL has advocated for the Antisemitism Awareness Act, a controversial bill that would have codified the working definition of antisemitism adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). The reason why many deem it controversial, even people like Kenneth Stern, who developed the working definition of antisemitism, is because IHRA’s understanding of antisemitism includes comparing any of Israel’s policies to those of Nazi Germany. Which many scholars say is Israel’s attempt to legally punish any criticism of its current military operation in Gaza and its settlement expansion in the West Bank.

Ironically, the Antisemitism Awareness Act wouldn’t shy away from labeling non-Zionist Jews antisemitic. For instance, if a Christian Nationalist were to advocate for a one-state solution in favor of Israel by expelling Palestinians from their land with force because it would bring the Second Coming of Christ, and a non-Zionist Jew were to advocate for Palestinians’ rights, guess who the Antisemitism Awareness Act would consider an antisemite. It’s a policy that is designed to silence opposition and infringe on our 1st amendment rights. More importantly, the bill has garnered support from Republicans who have used the Israel-Gaza conflict to attempt to defund universities, which has been a long-time goal of the GOP because of its supposed “woke” agenda. People like Elise Stefanik have called such acts necessary to mitigate disinformation, and since we’re on the topic.

Elise Stefanik (The Election Denialist)

On day one of his second term as president, Donald Trump pardoned and commuted the prison sentences of 1500 plus people charged with crimes related to the insurrection on January 6th, including people convicted of assaulting police officers, reports from the United States Attorney’s Office District of Columbia states this included over 140 police officers. Recall that the contributing factors of the riots on J6 were because of QAnon and election denialism. Naturally, the ADL on X condemned such a reversal from Trump as this normalized far-right extremism from groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. However, Jonathan Greenblatt congratulated Elise Stefanik on X last November when she was nominated to be the next US Ambassador to the UN. What Greenblatt would be less likely to share is that Elise Stefanik promoted election denialism for Trump. Stefanik endorsed lawsuits to overturn Biden’s victory and spread disinformation about voting irregularities without evidence, claims that motivated the storming of the Capitol on January 6th. What is depressing is that Greenblatt knows this but because she is a staunch pro-Israel supporter. We can just ignore her usage of conspiracy theories to push for policies.

Elon Musk’s Nazi Salute

During Trump’s post-inauguration celebration, Elon Musk gave a speech thanking many of the supporters in the crowd. He then proceeded to do a Nazi salute, not once but twice. Many on the far-right quickly came to his aid, providing excuses on why he did it; these include Musk having Asperger’s syndrome or Musk doing the Roman salute instead of the “Heil Hitler.” Surprisingly, or maybe not at this point, the ADL on X posted

This is a delicate moment. It’s a new day, and yet so many are on edge. Our politics are inflamed, and social media only adds to the anxiety.

It seems that @elonmusk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge.

At this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath. This is a new beginning. Let’s hope for healing and work toward unity in the months and years ahead.

For many within the Jewish community, these comments were outrageous since the ADL is meant to call out antisemitism. When acts of antisemitism are clearly presented on national television for the world to see, the Anti-Defamation League, under Jonathan Greenblatt’s leadership, attempts to sanitize Elon Musk’s behavior by questioning his intentionality and suggesting it was an “awkward gesture.” I wonder where this degree of caution was when non-Jewish people were calling for a ceasefire because of the high civilian deaths in Gaza since he had no problem labeling anyone antisemitic who criticized Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip.

And for the record, this isn’t the first time Elon Musk has been associated with antisemitism. In 2023, Elon Musk commented on a post on X stating that the Jewish community is pushing white hatred and attempting to destroy Western civilization, which is a nob to the Great Replacement conspiracy theory. Elon Musk’s response to this post was, “You said the actual truth”. To his credit, Jonathan Greenblatt called this out for what it was, but a couple of days later was forgiving when Elon Musk announced that anti-Israel rhetoric would be banned. Illustrating that his nationalism comes before his Judaism. It should be noted that Elon Musk has been associated with individuals like Alex Jones, a prominent distributor of antisemitic conspiracy theories, who both participated in a live call together. Showing that Elon Musk has no problem legitimizing antisemitism, so long as he can benefit from its supporters.

The Future of the Anti-Defamation League

As an independent researcher on far-right extremism and conspiracism it pains me to see how Jonathan Greenblatt is burning the ADL to the ground. So long as he is in charge of the organization it’s legacy will be tarnish and those who partner themselves with the ADL will also have their credibility questioned. It is time for the ADL to reconsider if Greenblatt is up to the task to fight against disinformation, conspiracy theories, extremism and antisemitism, because it is clear that Greenblatt’s priority is not the Jewish people.

About the Author
Nelson Perez is an alumnus of Rutgers University School of Social Work in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He interned at the American Jewish Committee (AJC) under the Kimmel Fellowship program. An independent research digital analyst, his background is in the psychology of disinformation, conspiratorial thinking, and political extremism. He is the host of The Social Chemist podcast, which is dedicated to interviewing scholars on misinformation
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